


Levels

by titaniumskies



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Friends With Benefits, Light Angst, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:07:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26994901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/titaniumskies/pseuds/titaniumskies
Summary: Architecture students Johnny and Jaehyun, with one year between them, meet at a bar. Their friendship progresses in levels, and somehow, Johnny feels that he's the one progressing too fast.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. Zero.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. First of all, thank you if you're reading this. Some disclaimers, notes, before you proceed:
> 
> \- I am not an architecture student or graduate. Please forgive me for the inaccuracies in my writing.  
> \- This has not been beta-ed but the draft has been read by some close friends (so if you're here from twitter, hello hahaha)  
> \- This is a chaptered work of bs and I'm so sorry.  
> \- If you're worried, nope, there will not be any explicit content. Implications will be written, but that's it.  
> \- I'm a new kid in writing fanfics for JohnJae so... uh... help me  
> \- I made a playlist for the whole fanfic, and I have divided the songs into the chunks / levels which will be scattered all throughout the story. If you want to experience an emotional rollercoaster (and possibly listen to new music), please go to this [YouTube Playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO0vzkXDxIJLbvWzF_F1nsxlkB3L-jGwi).
> 
> And lastly, enjoy.

There's always that uncertainty when a friendship starts. When do two people begin talking about the deeper things, like dreams and heartbreak? What’s a good ice-breaker, a topic they can start a conversation with, so that they'd know if a friendship is compatible? Because some friendships start on a whim — a person could just walk up to another at a cafe, drawing on their notebook, and a conversation could start there. Or, it could start with a simple “hey” on a messaging app, after they’ve accepted their friend request. Things could progress from there, slowly, carefully.

Things could also progress from a drink at a bar.

Johnny wouldn’t know, really. He just shows up to places, drink in hand, trying his damn hardest to wade through the sweaty crowd just so he could find a place to sit down and enjoy the last drops of his beer. He could just drink alone and knock himself out with different concoctions, and maybe pray that his Guardian Angel would sort of find a way to bring him home safety. Or, he could find a girl and open up some sort of conversation, probably comment on her drink, and then let the alcohol take over. Usually it’s the latter if he’s really lucky.

He doesn’t remember when  _ this  _ particular friendship started — whenever he reminisced about the old days, he can only remember ever drinking that same exact margarita mix Jaehyun had purposefully ordered for him during that one party they were both invited to. He could only remember Jaehyun laughing at the sight of him drinking such a  _ girly  _ drink that absolutely shook him to the core, and then he blacked out. He guessed that the incident was not the official start of the friendship this turned out to be, because he was sure of it having a lot of in-betweens that made them reach the level they were at now.

Were there even levels to any friendship? Johnny kept reading about those online, and he ended up not believing in any of those. Friendships start and they just hover, at least in his perspective. Friends were there — you message them, they respond, and they’re there for you when you need anything.

But this one hit differently, because maybe it’s Jaehyun that Johnny was friends with. And it sucked, because it was years later and the gap in between then and now was getting bigger and bigger.

He wished he could just go back to Level One.


	2. One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Johnny meets an enthusiastic Jaehyun, and things start at the safest level - Level One.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. I'm writing this in parts, and so I'll be constantly updating this fanfic in the following weeks to come.  
> Tracks 01 and 02 have been added - it adds to the story, so you can enjoy the music I was listening to while writing this and get like the feel and vibe of what I wanted to achieve.
> 
> Anyway, enough rambling. Please enjoy.

**[ Track 01:[Kids // MGMT](https://youtu.be/fe4EK4HSPkI) ]**  


The bar had a strict entry rule and an even stricter exit policy, which didn’t settle with Johnny well. He already was aeons behind in his Hangeul to understand the basics of whatever the hell was written on the paper plastered on the wall. He couldn’t go out to grab a bite once he was in, and he wasn’t allowed re-entry once he was out. What a fucking nightmare this was, because Johnny hated bar food and despised the common bar bathrooms that reeked of alcohol and piss.

But he was invited to this, his  _ first ever _ college party. So he might as well enjoy himself, even if it meant keeping silent and drinking the night away.

Johnny usually had a certain confidence to go out and mingle with the people around him, but it had just been a whole damn year of being in the architecture program and he was drained, so much, from all the courses he had to take. For starters, he didn’t really know why the hell he chose to fly back to Korea to study. He could have stayed in the US and went to a university there, and he wouldn’t have to worry about bills and cooking dinner and living comfortably. Maybe if he was back there, his confidence wouldn’t have depleted regardless if his program drained his energy or not.

But the extra stress of flying to a country he wasn’t familiar with, even if he was technically  _ from  _ there, did some things to his brain. Maybe a bit of alcohol would do the trick.

He settled on a bar stool after saying small  _ hellos _ to the boys that had invited him. They already had women in their arms, and Johnny was still too sober to even talk to anyone. He ordered his first beer, downing half of it almost in one go — the peak of his stress could be seen by the naked eye as he gulped down the beverage almost desperately.

“Slow down, man.” a voice said, almost making Johnny choke on the last bitter half of his beer.

Johnny let out a small cough to clear his airways before turning to its source, a young man almost his age, laughing his ass off. In the strobe lights of the bar, Johnny could make the stranger’s face, and the first thing he noticed about him was that he had quite an attractive smile. And when he did, the deep crevices of his dimples were emphasized by the fact that the bar was half-dark, save for said strobe lights that would hit his skin every now and then — it was too early for Johnny to be over-analyzing a stranger’s face.  _ He was still too sober for this shit _ .

“Beer won’t do you any good.” he continued, calling the bartender and ordering two sets of drinks that Johnny was too distracted to make out just from reading the stranger’s lips.

It turned out to be margaritas, a drink that Johnny has heard of before but never intended to touch. These were modern times, and he knew damn well not to base anything on any societal standard, but he had always thought of mixed drinks as weak. Johnny’s brows furrowed as he stared at the drinks, confused. “Margaritas?”

“Yup. It’s the gateway cocktail towards a great night out.”

“Huh.”

The stranger pushed one of the glasses towards Johnny, who hesitantly grabbed it by its upper curve. He didn’t move, as he was still trying to process why on earth this man would order such a  _ weak _ drink for such a party. 

The rest of the night became a blur after Johnny clunk his glass with the stranger, because little did he know that margaritas were actually the spawn of the devil. One glass felt like he just had half a bottle of soju — who  _ knew  _ that a seemingly weak drink would result in this, his vision slowly blurring and his glass slowly being refilled over, and over, and over again? But, regardless of his tolerance dwindling, he had to admit that the night was becoming more tolerable than ever.

He didn’t remember the things that he said, or the things that he did. All he knew was that he didn’t puke anywhere and had actually stayed put in that exact same bar stool, with that exact same stranger whose laughter rang in his ears. Johnny couldn’t even remember if he asked for his name, because all that remained in his head was the stranger’s laugh, the dimple that dipped his skin, and the fact that Johnny was laughing along with him.

And that voice. That oddly deep voice that the stranger had every time he said “Are you okay?” because that was the only question that Johnny remembered in between the laughs that they shared.

God knows what happened after that, but all Johnny knew was that he got home safely, with all his belongings intact. The stranger had slipped a note inside his wallet, unbeknownst to him, and only one thing was written on it. A name.

_ Jaehyun. _

* * *

The embarrassment of having to sleep on the actual  _ floor _ settled in Johnny’s system for a good week, because his roommate Doyoung didn’t give him the chance to forget the next day. The younger of the two had actual photos of Johnny, mouth agape, hair disheveled as he slept on the floor almost comfortably on the night that he drank too much margaritas. 

“You’re  _ weak _ , hyung.” Doyoung said mid-chuckle, once he saw Johnny grunting and attempting to open his eyes.

Johnny was having none of it, not today. “What time is it?  _ What day is it? _ ” he attempted to sway the conversation to anything other than him getting drunk and passing out, to which the younger Doyoung was too eager to comply with.

“It’s a Saturday, and it’s eleven in the morning.”

A sudden flashback hit Johnny of the things that happened just the night before, and all he wanted was for the floor to swallow him up and keep him there. Shame swept through his entire system and oh, dear God,  _ why  _ did he even dare to attend that party fully knowing that the only alcoholic beverage his liver could handle was beer? His body ached, and his head was in a complete slurry to fully grasp the idea that he needed to do some things, even on a Saturday.

“Although I have to say,” Doyoung now had his mouth filled with toast, and he promptly chewed and swallowed before continuing, “that you’ve got good taste. The guy practically dragged your six foot ass into the dorm without question and told me to keep an eye on you.” And of course, Doyoung recalled  _ in detail _ how things went when Johnny was unconscious, drunk, and probably silently praying that he’d still wake up the next day — from knocking the dorm’s door using his own forehead, to looking at Jaehyun’s face way too intently before abruptly saying goodbye and collapsing on the floor. Information like this made Johnny bury his face into his palms, muffling the grunts that came out of him.

Of course, Doyoung found it  _ highly _ amusing.

**[ Track 02:[Call It What You Want // Foster The People](https://youtu.be/1prhCWO_518) ]**

The hangover lasted almost the whole weekend, and Johnny swore to himself and to God that he wouldn’t dare judge a drink by its assumed societal standard. Fuck those drinks; he’d have to look out for cocktails the next time he’d go to a bar. Which was, of course, almost never again, with all the plates piling up and the last of his brain cells escaping one by one. It was too much, probably more than his stupid self could handle, so he decided that at the end of his preliminary week that he’d go out again.

He ended up going to the same bar since it was a bar that actually knew him and allowed him in, plus he was  _ too damn tired  _ to look for another place to get trashed alone. It was also the nearest to his dorm that he knew of, with it only being technically three blocks away. If he were normal, he would have invited Doyoung, but the poor kid had a calculus exam the following day that Johnny just didn’t bother asking him to come.

The bar wasn’t as cramped as it was before, since there were no events currently happening. It was a casual Friday night, with university students just trying to drown themselves with alcohol to forget about the requirements of the week after. It was so spacious that he was able to sit at the exact same stool he sat on a few nights ago. That was odd; it felt like deja vu, but not really.

He ordered his usual beer, and he was halfway through it when he felt light fingers tap onto his shoulder.

“Johnny, right?”

_ That damn voice _ caught Johnny’s attention and he was right to say that this was definitely deja vu — because the same young man that had offered him a drink (or two, or three, or four) had that exact same smile as he sank down onto the stool beside him. Unlike before, though, the young man ordered the same beer as Johnny, who felt a wave of relief wash through him. He guessed that today was not the day to get embarrassed and he was  _ extremely  _ cool with that.

However, regardless of him being slightly relieved that he’d be coming home just tipsy, he instantly remembered that this young man knew his name. His brain cells might have had a seizure, because he didn’t remember giving him any information other than his alcohol preferences...or did he? As he was about to protest at that  _ honestly weird  _ implication of this young man knowing his name (even if, technically, Johnny somewhat already knew his), the man already took in a breath, as if prepping for a sentence.

“I saw your ID when you passed out the last time we met,” the other male’s words blended with another small, deep chuckle, a pause only so he could take a small sip off the bottle of his beer, “and I needed to take you home — not in my dorm, though, because that’s a struggle.”

“ _ Huh. _ ”

Johnny took this chance to down a huge gulp of his beer, and willed the alcohol to consume him right now and fast. Once again, he felt that he was still too sober to be interacting with anyone, most especially people he sorta kinda found attractive. And it was crazy, because this was technically only the second time they’ve met, and yet there was something really, really fascinating about a guy who had that type of baritone.

He wanted to finish his drink, but the other man kept on going. “I’m Jaehyun, by the way. In case you didn’t get my note.”

“ _ Mhm. _ ” Johnny lifted his finger, as if signaling the man — Jaehyun — to pause for a bit. “Give me a sec.”

This was definitely bad practice to rely on alcohol to boost his social morale, but he had gotten used to it so fast that Johnny felt like he couldn’t speak without drinking one or two beers. He let Jaehyun speak for the most part as his own consciousness started to melt into a slurry; two, three drinks later and he was already laughing along with whatever it was that Jaehyun was saying. Johnny was listening, or at least, he was  _ attempting _ to, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the dimple that dug into Jaehyun’s skin whenever his lips curled into a smile.

Johnny wasn’t drunk. He wasn’t even tipsy, but the alcohol was helping him to open up more, to laugh, and form  _ coherent _ words into this conversation that he would’ve ignored if it wasn’t for this other man in front of him. For a second meeting, it was rare for Johnny to be comfortable. It took him a week to talk to Doyoung properly (and maybe it was also due to the fact that they were both architecture students, and Johnny was a year ahead, so plates were things that prevented him from having a social life in the first place).

When Johnny Suh opens up to a person, his mood changes. His aura changes, his overall vibe with the universe clicks and things fall into place.

And this was the first level, with Johnny being able to form coherent sentences, albeit with the help of his trustworthy bottles of beer.

“So.” he cleared his throat; he was maybe on his fourth beer, and the night was still young. Jaehyun sat up straight upon hearing Johnny’s small cough. “Your major. What is it?”

(Rare was it for Johnny to initiate the conversation, so this was something that he would remember for the years to come).

“Architecture.” Jaehyun answered with a smile. 

“ _ Oh. _ ”

“And I saw on your ID that you’re a year older than me, so you should maybe help me out with things,  _ hyung _ .” Jaehyun’s smile widens, and transitions into a deep, hearty laugh, followed by him downing the rest of his (third? fourth?) beer.

“Oh, fuck that, man.” Johnny returned the laugh. He needed another beer, and so he ordered another one. “ _ I’m  _ the one that needs help. My drafting’s a bit wonky and my hands shake so much when I try to freehand things. You ever get those moments?”

Jaehyun shook his head. “Nope; the only things that are straight about me are the lines that I draw.”

If Johnny were sober, he would have choked on a drink or a piece of fry. But at this point, the alcohol processed that as a joke, and he let out a chuckle to at least lighten the weird feeling at the bottom pit of his stomach.

Because if he could only draw straight lines perfectly, then he would’ve felt a hundred percent connected with Jaehyun.

Their conversations were light, simple questions and answers, and it was enough for Johnny to absorb even while under the influence of alcohol. He learned, in those almost four hours that they spent in that bar, that Jaehyun was in some classes with Doyoung, and he had met Johnny’s roommate a couple of times but they’ve yet to actually interact. Johnny has also learned that Jaehyun didn’t have a roommate, because he felt like it would distract him from his studies.

“Smart move,” Johnny commented, taking in the last drops of his sixth beer.

And when he glanced at his phone which said  _ midnight _ , Johnny blinked, fumbled to get his wallet from his back pocket, and attempted to pay for the drinks with his card (his, and Jaehyun’s — he’ll have to check if he’ll be broke til the end of the month, but maybe the purchase would be worth it). The small paper with Jaehyun’s name fell from his wallet and onto the counter, in which Jaehyun saw, and laughed at.

“You can throw that away, you already know who I am.” he said, reaching for the paper. Johnny was faster — his free hand blocked Jaehyun’s from getting to the small paper.

“I’m keeping this.” he said. “No reason; I just like keeping the small things.”

Once everything’s been paid off, and Jaehyun had already offered his countless thanks to Johnny for paying for everything, they headed out the bar. It was a mistake to stand up too fast, because Johnny almost stumbled. But Jaehyun was kind of strong, being able to lift Johnny even if he was a wee bit smaller than him. “Here we go —” Jaehyun let out a grunt, and carried the both of them out the bar with the strength that he had left. He didn’t have to carry Johnny that far because he just became off-balanced when he stood up too fast.

He would definitely be thinking too much about this once he was sober.

“Thanks.” Johnny said, choking out a laugh. “I swear I’m not that hammered.”

“I know. Don’t worry.” Jaehyun smiled; his brow was raised, and his gaze was on Johnny’s chest. The shirt that Johnny was wearing had a small chest pocket sewn on it. Johnny got the memo (albeit slowly), checked the pocket, and alas, another small paper, folded neatly.

Johnny opened the paper. It was a phone number, and a Kakao username.

“Text me?” Jaehyun said, already turning to the opposite direction. He waved, and Johnny watched as he slowly, slowly walked away.

He thought, once he started to walk home himself, that Jaehyun was quite an interesting person. He would definitely be texting him once he got home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually already have the whole story mapped out, that's why the chapters in this are already fixed. If you wanna get spoiled or have questions about the story, please let me know and I'll be more than happy to give information about what I'm writing. I love talking about these things.
> 
> And if you're still here and are waiting for the next chapter, thank you. I'm just a bit busy, so writing everything is taking a bit of time.
> 
> Have a nice day!


End file.
